German companies want Russia back in the G7.
Russia should be invited back to the summit of the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialized countries, which will take place next weekend, German business leaders were quoted as saying by local newspapers on Sunday; last year, the G7 leaders held a meeting without Russian President Vladimir Putin in protest against the Kremlin's decision to annex the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Russia should be invited back to the summit of the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialized countries, which will take place next weekend, German business leaders were quoted as saying by local newspapers on Sunday.
Last year, the leaders of the G7 countries held a meeting without Russian President Vladimir Putin in protest against the Kremlin's decision to annex the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
With few signs of an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine despite a ceasefire agreed in Minsk more than three months ago, the exclusion has continued for a second consecutive year.
Eckhard Cordes, chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee of the East German pressure group representing the interests of some 200 companies with investments in Russia, said that Moscow's marginalization of the summit is a missed opportunity.
"The G7 meeting with Russia could help resolve the crisis and encourage the country to take constructive steps in the conflict with Ukraine," Cordes told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated due to the conflict with Ukraine.
The European Union on Saturday criticized a new list from Moscow that bans 89 EU politicians from entering Russian territory, describing it as an "arbitrary and unjustified" act.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley)